Indonesia asks Australian firies' help

Indonesia has asked Australia to send a firefighting aircraft and crew to help fight raging forest fires that are choking Southeast Asia with deadly haze.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir says the details are still being discussed, but it was agreed a water bombing aircraft with 10,000 litre capacity would be of most help.

"We hope it could arrive as soon as possible," he told AAP on Friday.

"From Singapore and Malaysia, we have heard that either today or tomorrow, help should arrive."

Indonesia has been reluctant to accept foreign help to tackle the crisis, which is now escalating.

Babies, children and people with asthma are suffering the most because of the haze, with reports a 28-day-old baby died on Wednesday in Palembang, Sumatra, from a respiratory infection.